Published: July 12, 2008 10:35 am         

Bush builds upon legacy of ineptitude

It is difficult to believe that, just six months ago, I figured there was little more damage that President Bush could do to this country _ despite our powerlessness to stop him.

But events are proving that I, of all people, was overly optimistic.

Oh, I understood the potential for catastrophe, whether in the Middle East, the economy or in energy. I guess just didn’t comprehend the depths to which the president had set the ball rolling.

Back in early January: ``With 380 days remaining, we have to do what we can, which isn’t much, to keep Bush from doing any more damage. … The wars, torture, lies and climate inaction are enough to warrant impeachment _ except that with Washington lawmakers unable to agree on anything, it’d be too little, too late.’’

And I didn’t even mention oil, our debt and their impact on our economy, which have turned out to be Bush’s final and most serious pillage of the American people. They say the president has been thinking a lot about his legacy, probably trying to find some positive factor he can salvage now that just six months remain in his presidency. The trouble is that he is so out of touch, he doesn’t even realize how low the nation has sunk during his reign.

He must be aware of what people think of his performance, since his approval rating of 32 percent is near the lowest ever recorded. But he has never been one to care much about what ordinary voters thought of him or what his administration was doing. Meanwhile, as Bush sweats about his legacy, a bus is driving around the country to make sure we don’t forget anything. The Bush Legacy tour kicked off in Washington on June 24 and made it through upstate New York on July 1 and 2.

The traveling museum of a failed presidency had one major goal: Remind people of the policies or lack thereof that resulted in the nosedive the nation has been undergoing. To understand why people believe he has been a rotten president, let’s do an accounting of what has occurred on his watch. How much of it can be attributed to the debacle in Iraq or to failed economic and energy policies can be debated, but this is what we know. When Bush took office Jan. 1, 2001, oil was $28.66 a barrel and a gallon of gas was $1.54. Today, those prices are about $136 and $4.15, respectively.

Now, some may say that global supply and demand account for the increases. No doubt, they are factors. But we also know that the big oil companies, who were major Bush backers, have been hauling in billion-dollar profits.

After the Iraq invasion, some said that we forget about all the glorified talk of freedom and democracy because the war really was for oil. Remember: Blood for Oil. Recently, sure enough, several Western oil firms _ who else, Exxon Mobil, BP, Chevron, among others _ were granted negotiating rights to tap Iraq’s enormous deposits.

The payoff continues, and it becomes clear that we’ve been had.

Then there are the retirement funds and stocks that were supposed to be waiting for the baby boomers getting ready to end their careers.

When Bush took office, the Dow was at 10,732 and the Nasdaq was about 2,300. The markets are at about about the same levels today. Some growth.

All the workers who for years were told to pack their money away in IRAs and 401(k)s have been forced to watch as their savings are eaten away by the president’s debt and plummeting value of the dollar.

The federal government’s total debt now is about $9.47 trillion, When Bush took office, the federal debt was about $5.63 trillion, but the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office had projected $5.6 trillion in federal budget surpluses through 2011. In other words, three years from now, we would have been debt-free. Of course, all of the above ultimately translates into jobs, and week by week we hear about more industries announcing huge cuts in employment. In the manufacturing sector alone, the work force has shrunk by about 20 percent during the Bush administration. What can the president do now to cement his legacy as the worst president ever? I suppose he could attack Iran and continue to do nothing about our sinking economy.

But the question facing our leaders next year is how do we get out of the mess Bush has created. Some observers say it will take years to right our ship and get it moving in a different direction.

In November, voters will decide who the best candidates _ for president and for Congress _ are to begin the process of getting us out of the quagmire.

Barack Obama is the best choice to end the war, jump-start alternative energy programs, lay the track to reduce our debt and move us in the new direction required to get people excited again about their lives and our nation.

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Cary Brunswick is managing editor of The Daily Star. He can be reached at (607) 432-1000, ext. 217.